Grateful Dead’s Europe ’72 Tour 50th Anniversary: April 8 – Wembley, England

In April 1972, the Grateful Dead embarked on their now-legendary Europe ’72 Tour. The band performed 22 times between April 7 and May 26, resulting in the landmark triple live LP, Europe ’72 that was released in October of that year. To celebrate the legacy of the band’s historic tour abroad, JamBase presents a retrospective look back at each of the Europe 1972 Grateful Dead performances.

The second show of the Grateful Dead’s Europe 1972 tour was also the band’s second straight night at Empire Pool in Wembley, England (currently called OVO Arena Wembley). Prior to the start of the concert, tour manager Sam Cutler addressed the audience to have them tell their friends that were shut out of the sold-out concert that Dead’s upcoming performance on May 16 in Luxembourg would be broadcast live on Radio Luxembourg.

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Like each Europe ’72 performance, the Saturday, April 8 show saw keyboardist Ron “Pigpen” McKernan front the band on “Mr. Charlie” while guitarist Bob Weir and vocalist Donna Jean Godchaux showcased an expansive “Playing In The Band.” Both instances occurred in the first set, which began with guitarist Jerry Garcia leading the first of eight “Bertha” first set openers of the tour.

Stalling for time to fix a broken string onstage, Weir also told the notorious “Yellow Dog” joke during the opening set, after the version of “Cumberland Blues” that was selected for the original Europe ’72 live album (that was polished with studio vocal overdubs). The first set “Looks Like Rain,” one of three performed on the Europe ‘72 Tour, saw a rare occurrence of Garcia utilizing a pedal steel guitar.

As it had the night prior, and would a total of 15 times on the tour, “Casey Jones” closed the first set. This was one of five shows on the tour that saw first sets open with “Bertha” and close with “Casey Jones.”

In a similar fashion to opening night, Bobby introduced the second set opening “Truckin’” telling the audience:

“Alrighty, we’re gonna start this set off, once again, just like last night, with a song that rose straight to the top of the charts in Turlock, California. Now, this was number one. Numero uno … I can’t stress that point enough.”

Garcia, noting the overlap, called Weir on it by telling him, “that’s just like you did last night, man.”

Despite its apparent popularity, Bobby struggled a bit with some of the opener’s lyrics. The rest of the six-song second set was anchored by a 32-minute, psychedelic “Dark Star” that had elements hinting at “Feelin’ Groovy” and a “Mind Left Body” jam.

“Dark Star” then segued sweetly into “Sugar Magnolia.” Pigpen also led Weir, Garcia, keyboardist Keith Godchaux, drummer Bill Kreutzmann and bassist Phil Lesh on a wild, harmonica-infused, 19-minute “Caution (Do Not Step On Tracks).”

For the second straight night, but this time actually on Saturday night, the encore was “One More Saturday Night.” Weir namechecked “Mr. Garcia” ahead of his bandmate’s blistering solo.

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Here are additional statistics and information regarding the second show of the Grateful Dead’s Europe ’72 tour:

Below, stream the official recording of the Grateful Dead’s April 8, 1972 concert at Empire Pool in Wembley, England or check out additional recordings via Archive.org:

Source: JamBase.com